ABSTRACT

Chin-chin is a fried golden brown crunchy snack consumed by both children and adults. They are usually made from wheat grains which is not cultivated in tropical countries like Nigeria due to unfavourable climatic conditions. Chemical and sensory properties of chin-chin from blends of wheat, tiger nut seeds, and date palm fruit were investigated. Chin-chin were produced from flour blends (100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40) of wheat flour and tiger nut respectively, while the date palm was constant. Chin-chin made with 100% wheat flour served as the control. Proximate composition, mineral, vitamin and phytochemical content, as well as sensory properties of the Chin-chin were evaluated using standard analytical procedures. Data generated were statistically analyzed by one way analysis of variance using Statistical Product for Service Solution version 22.0. The proximate composition revealed that the moisture content (5,05 to 6.09%), crude protein (8.77 to 9.86%), fat (22.12 to 26.12%), dietary fibre (0.33 to 2.68%), ash (0.38 to 1.84%), carbohydrate (55.55 to 61.24%), and energy value (483.46 to 492.32 kcal) of the chin-chin. Mineral like calcium (15.57 to 22.33 mg/100g), magnesium (40.12 to 42.17 mg/100g), potassium (89.11 to 105.01 mg/100g), phosphorus (14.17 to 69.63 mg/100g), sodium (2.88 to 3.15 mg/100g), zinc (0.57 to 0.95 mg/100g), iron (1.71 to 2.45 mg/100g), selenium (0.02 to 0.03 mg/100g) were obtained in the chin-chin.  The chin-chin possessed beta carotene (52.12 to 52.62 µg/100g), thiamine (0.28 to 0.47 µg/100g), riboflavin (0.73 to 0.93 µg/100g), vitamin C (2.17 to 2.74 µg/100g). The phytochemical content shows flavonoid (1.62 to 2.31 mg/100g), phytate (0.15 to 0.22 mg/100g), tannis (0.09 to 0.16 mg/100g), saponin (0.08 to 0.16 mg/100g) of the chin-chin. The sensory analysis of the cookies revealed that the mean score for appearance ranged from (4.70 to 8.55), taste (5.45 to 8.35), texture (6.10 to 8.00), aroma (5.15 to 7.95), and general acceptability (5.60 to 8.60) of the chin-chin. The study concluded that chin-chin produced from wheat, date palm and tiger nut flour blends could serve as good alternative to only wheat flour based chin-chin for patients of cardiovascular and diabetic disease and individuals too.